cliff. the only hopeful sign is that republicans and democrats are talking privately again. but they haven't worked out any of the big issues, including what to do about the nation's debt limit. washington will hit its borrowing limit early next year, darren gersh has the latest. >> reporter: sitting around the kitchen table with a middle class family in virginia, the president once again pressed for congress to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> if this family has a couple of thousand dollars less to spend, that translates into $200 billion of less consumer spending next year. and that's bad for businesses, large and small. >> reporter: behind the scenes, the two sides are talking again. but there was no progress in public. senators today fought over the debt limit, and ended up deadlocked over a bill to allow the president to automatically increase borrowing. >> he's shown what he is really after is unprecedented powers to spend taxpayer dollars without any limit at all. >> reporter: if the debt l